RDC Development LLC to fully rehabilitate and oversee operations and maintenance for six properties in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) today announced the selection of a development team to begin work at six of NYCHA’s project-based Section 8 properties. This transaction is part of a mixed-finance project that will both provide funding for critical work to improve the apartments and buildings to improve residents’ quality of life, and use energy more efficiently. NYCHA expects the development team to provide residents with dedicated daily maintenance and upkeep before, after and during the complete renovation of their apartments, buildings and property that it will undertake. For this important work, NYCHA has selected RDC Development, a joint-venture between MDG Design + Construction and Wavecrest Management. RDC’s efforts include extensive tenant-in-place rehabilitation work and the entity has experience managing more than 3,000 project-based Section 8 units.

“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone as part of the strategic roadmap Plan NYCHA to identify alternative sources of revenue in order to preserve our aging housing stock,” said NYCHA Chairman John B. Rhea. “It also demonstrates our long-term commitment to preservation of affordable housing for low-income families and households.”

The plan calls for exterior and interior rehabilitation of more than 700,000 square feet of space for 874 units at six sites; renovation of building facades and interiors, as well as landscaped areas; and on-site social services. The plan will present opportunities for residents to apply for jobs created by the transaction through Section 3 hiring. The six sites are Bronxchester in the Bronx; Campos Plaza I, East 4th Street Rehab, East 120th Street Rehab and Milbank-Frawley in Manhattan; and Saratoga Square in Brooklyn.

“RDC is truly excited to team up with NYCHA on the development of six vital Project Based Section 8 properties in New York City. The improvements planned for the apartments and lobbies combined with the redesigned lobbies and open landscaped areas will make these properties the envy of their neighborhoods,” said Michael T. Rooney Jr., Principal of RDC. “We share NYCHA’s vision to transform their existing housing stock and are especially grateful for HUD’s support of this project that will incorporate energy efficient improvements and a friendly and sustainable design for its residents.”

The renovation and preservation of the six properties are part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP), a multibillion dollar initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of the 2014 fiscal year. For every dollar the City invests through NHMP, leverages $3.42 in additional funding for a total commitment of more than $21 billion. To date, the NHMP has funded the creation or preservation of more than 156,397 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs.